Article Resource: Xinghua Net 18/03/2011

Writer: Wu Mengda

Editor: Huang Aicheng

Published Time: 08:59 21/03/2011

Xinghua Net Guangzhou March 8th: On March 18th , Sun Yat-sen University held a news briefing together with Shenzhen Huada Genomics Institute, announcing that the sequencing of grouper’s genome map had been completed. This was the third fish genome sequencing project done by China, and also the first genome sequencing map of family serranidae in the world. The establishing of genome map has contributed greatly to the development of biological approach to control the sex of fish as well as to the revelation of the forming of vertebrate’s sex-determining mechanism and their evolutionary pathways theoretically.

The grouper is one of the most well-known marine-culture fish with high economic value, which widely distribute thorough Indian Ocean, the tropical and subtropical areas of Pacific Ocean.

Lin Haoran, an academician from School of Life Science, Sun Yat-sen University, said that in the past the chief way of catching groupers was by natural fishing while they found it too difficult to farm them. The research of genome performed as a vital breach for the comprehensive interpretation of the groupers. The success of sequencing the genome map would help to develop the technology of grouper genome-assisted breeding which laid an important foundation for swift cultivation of improved varieties which are high yield, high-quality and disease-resistant.

Ling Haoran also said there was a great variety of ways to determine the sex of fish, where the phenomenon such as hermaphroditism and androgyny were not unusual. The groupers belong to hermaphroditism fish whose genders are all female during their first sexual maturity and then transform into male in later periods. “Accomplishing such task as sequencing the genome map will provide a large amount of critical shape and properties related functional genomes and molecular markers which are of significant theoretical value to the development of biological approach to control the sex of fish as well as to the revelation of the forming of vertebrate’s sex-determining mechanism and their evolutionary pathways.”

Yin Ye, the president of Huada Genomics Technology said that the fish genome were extremely complicated and the success of this project was of great importance to both science and industry, “It marks a new beginning for a species discipline and its industry when the genome project for that species is completed”, said Yin Ye.